Google Places Over Reporting Directions Requests to a Business

[KaneJamison]

I posted a screenshot of a client's Google Places profile reporting strange statistics for driving/direction requests to my website.

The post is here: http://www.hoodwebmanagement.com/2054/weird-google-places-statistics/. Full info is there but I have attached a screenshot here as well.

I'm wondering if anyone has seen this error with another local business - especially a local business that shares its exact address with another business, since I think that is the cause.

weird-google-places-statistics.png?d407e3 weird-google-places-statistics.png?d407e3

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Kane,

Thank you for sharing the link/attachments, and I really wish I could say, "ah, I know what this is" on this one, but unfortunately, I haven't had this same experience. I looked back to my conversations with a group of Local SEOs with whom I chat and checked around the date that you saw the drop, and not one of them mentioned seeing a similar drop at that time in stats.

What does stand out to me, however, is that the drop you've reported happened close enough to the launch of the new Google+ Local Pages (huge changes) to make we wonder if something got lost in the shuffle for your client.

Your own theory, that what you are witnessing could be a result of merging due to similarity of address, is also worth exploring. Perhaps the client's Google+ Local page merged with that of a neighboring business during the rollout?

I apologize for not being able to shed real light on this, but like yourself, I've not experienced this before and cannot find any mention in my private conversations or on the web that reports a similar experience. I definitely think it's worth reporting to the new Google and Your Business Forum in the technical issues section:

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/business

I'd be very interested to hear if you get a response from one of the Top Contributors or employees.

Good luck!

Miriam